Women's Tennis

Women's Tennis Back in Action, Hosts Rhode Island Wednesday

Mar 23, 2010

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – After a
19-day layoff over Spring Break, Northern Arizona (7-3, 3-0 BSC)
returns to the court for a non-conference match against Rhode
Island (1-3) on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Flagstaff Athletic Club
East. NAU is a perfect 3-0 at home this season and has
won 11-consecutive home matches dating back to 2008. Following
Wednesday's match, the Lumberjacks will play their next seven
matches on the road before closing the regular season at home on
April 17.

Northern Arizona is one of three
Big Sky teams with an undefeated conference record, joining No. 45
Sacramento State and Eastern Washington atop the Big Sky standings.
NAU has played two home conference matches (Montana and Montana
State) and one road conference tilt (Northern Colorado) this
season, with its next four Big Sky matches on the road before
hosting the Hornets to end the regular season. In conference
matches, Northern Arizona has a combined 14-4 singles record and
8-1 doubles mark in dominating Big Sky-foes.

Juniors Orsi Golovics and Edit
Suhajda have been consistent at the top of the Lumberjack rotation
while NAU has gotten significant contributions from the back end of
the lineup as well. Freshman Malia Wahinepio leads the team with an
8-2 singles record at No. 4 while fellow freshman Nicole Perez has
won six-straight matches at No. 5. Junior Yumi Hasegawa has also
won her last-six matches and is 7-2 at the No. 6 position. All
three primary doubles teams have been superb for the Lumberjacks as
well, with each pair posting seven victories and two of the duos
ranked in the ITA Mountain region.

The Rams have only played four
matches in the spring but completed six duals in the Fall and
posted a 5-1 record. In the Spring, Rhode Island is 1-3 with their
only win coming over Niagara. URI is leaving the East coast for the
first time this season to come to Arizona and will play Grand
Canyon and Western New Mexico in Phoenix later this week.

Twin sisters Kristen and Tristany
Leikem, natives of Tucson, lead the Rams atop their singles lineup
at No. 1 and 3, respectively, with sophomore Pam Emery playing at
No. 2. Rhode Island was picked to finish 9th in the 14-team
Atlantic 10 Conference after tying for 7th place last season.

Rhode Island and Northern Arizona
have never met in women's tennis, with the Rams representing the
only first-time opponent on the 2010 Lumberjack schedule. URI will
also be the Lumberjacks first ever opponent from the state of Rhode
Island.

DID YOU
KNOW…The student-athletes recorded a 3.0 GPA
overall for the fall semester, the fifth time in the last six
semesters the department has had a 3.0 or better GPA for the
semester.